Autonomic control of a distributed computing system in accordance with a hierachical model

ABSTRACT

A distributed computing system conforms to a multi-level, hierarchical organizational model. One or more control nodes provide for the efficient and automated allocation and management of computing functions and resources within the distributed computing system in accordance with the organization model. The model includes four distinct levels: fabric, domains, tiers and nodes that provide for the logical abstraction and containment of the physical components as well as system and service application software of the enterprise. A user, such as a system administrator, interacts with the control nodes to logically define the hierarchical organization of distributed computing system. The control node includes an automation subsystem having one or more rule engines that provide autonomic control of the application nodes in accordance with a set of one or more rules.

The application is a continuation-in part of and claims priority to Ser.No. 11/047,468, filed Jan. 31, 2005, the entire content of which isincorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to computing environments and, more specifically,to distributed computing systems.

BACKGROUND

Distributed computing systems are increasingly being utilized to supportbusiness as well as technical applications. Typically, distributedcomputing systems are constructed from a collection of computing nodesthat combine to provide a set of processing services to implement thedistributed computing applications. Each of the computing nodes in thedistributed computing system is typically a separate, independentcomputing device interconnected with each of the other computing nodesvia a communications medium, e.g., a network.

One challenge with distributed computing systems is the organization,deployment and administration of such a system within an enterpriseenvironment. For example, it is often difficult to manage the allocationand deployment of enterprise computing functions within the distributedcomputing system. An enterprise, for example, often includes severalbusiness groups, and each group may have competing and variablecomputing requirements.

SUMMARY

In general, the invention is directed to a distributed computing systemthat conforms to a multi-level, hierarchical organizational model. Oneor more control nodes provide for the efficient and automated allocationand management of computing functions and resources within thedistributed computing system in accordance with the organization model.

As described herein, the model includes four distinct levels: fabric,domains, tiers and nodes that provide for the logical abstraction andcontainment of the physical components as well as system and serviceapplication software of the enterprise. A user, such as a systemadministrator, interacts with the control nodes to logically define thehierarchical organization of the distributed computing system. Thecontrol nodes are responsible for all levels of management in accordancewith the model, including fabric management, domain creation, tiercreation and node allocation and deployment.

In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving input that defines amodel for a hierarchical organization of a distributed computing systemhaving a plurality of computing nodes. The model specifies a fabrichaving one or more domains, and wherein each domain has at least onetier that includes at least one node slot. The method further comprisesautomatically configuring the distributed computing system in accordancewith the hierarchical organization defined by the model.

In one embodiment, a distributed computing system comprises a pluralityof application nodes interconnected via a communications network, and acontrol node. The control node includes an automation subsystem havingone or more rule engines that provide autonomic control of theapplication nodes in accordance with a set of one or more rules.

In another embodiment, a method comprises receiving input that definesan expected state for a distributed computing system having a pluralityof application nodes interconnected via a communications network, andreceiving status data that represents an actual state for thedistributed computing system. The method further comprises processingrules with a set of rule engines to determine operations for reducingany difference between the actual state and the expected state, andapplying the operations to the distributed computing system to controlthe application nodes in accordance with the rules.

In another embodiment, a computer-readable medium comprises instructionsthat cause a processor to process rules with a set of forward-chainingrule engines to determine operations for reducing differences between anactual state of a distributed computing system and an expected state.The instructions further cause the computer to apply the operations tothe distributed computing system to provide autonomic control of theapplication nodes in accordance with the rules.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thedescription and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a distributed computing systemconstructed from a collection of computing nodes.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a model of anenterprise that logically defines an enterprise fabric.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that provides a high-level overview of theoperation of a control node when configuring the distributed computingsystem.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operation of the controlnode when assigning computing nodes to node slots of tiers.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operation of a controlnode when adding an additional computing node to a tier to meetadditional processing demands.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operation of a controlnode harvesting excess node capacity from one of the tiers and returningthe harvested computing node to the free pool.

FIG. 7 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface fordefining tiers in a particular domain.

FIG. 8 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface fordefining properties of the tiers.

FIG. 9 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface forviewing and identify properties of a computing node.

FIG. 10 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface forviewing software images.

FIG. 11 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface forviewing a hardware inventory report.

FIG. 12 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface forviewing discovered nodes that are located in the free pool.

FIG. 13 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface forviewing users of a distributed computing system.

FIG. 14 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface forviewing alerts for the distributed computing system.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of control nodethat includes a monitoring subsystem, a service level automationinfrastructure (SLAI), and a business logic tier (BLT).

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the monitoringsubsystem.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the SLAI infurther detail.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an example working memory associated withrule engines of the SLAI.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment for theBLT of the control node.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a rule enginein further detail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a distributed computing system 10constructed from a collection of computing nodes. Distributed computingsystem 10 may be viewed as a collection of computing nodes operating incooperation with each other to provide distributed processing.

In the illustrated example, the collection of computing nodes formingdistributed computing system 10 are logically grouped within adiscovered pool 11, a free pool 13, an allocated tiers 15 and amaintenance pool 17. In addition, distributed computing system 10includes at least one control node 12.

Within distributed computing system 10, a computing node refers to thephysical computing device. The number of computing nodes needed withindistributed computing system 10 is dependent on the processingrequirements. For example, distributed computing system 10 may include 8to 512 computing nodes or more. Each computing node includes one or moreprogrammable processors for executing software instructions stored onone or more computer-readable media.

Discovered pool 11 includes a set of discovered nodes that have beenautomatically “discovered” within distributed computing system 10 bycontrol node 12. For example, control node 12 may monitor dynamic hostcommunication protocol (DHCP) leases to discover the connection of anode to network 18. Once detected, control node 12 automaticallyinventories the attributes for the discovered node and reassigns thediscovered node to free pool 13. The node attributes identified duringthe inventory process may include a CPU count, a CPU speed, an amount ofmemory (e.g., RAM), local disk characteristics or other computingresources. Control node 12 may also receive input identifying nodeattributes not detectable via the automatic inventory, such as whetherthe node includes I/O, such as HBA. Further details with respect to theautomated discovery and inventory processes are described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. ______, having attorney docket no. 1072-009US01,entitled “AUTOMATED DISCOVERY AND INVENTORY OF NODES WITHIN AN AUTONOMICDISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEM,” filed Mar. 2, 2005, the entire content ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference.

Free pool 13 includes a set of unallocated nodes that are available foruse within distributed computing system 10. Control node 12 maydynamically reallocate an unallocated node from free pool 13 toallocated tiers 15 as an application node 14. For example, control node12 may use unallocated nodes from free pool 13 to replace a failedapplication node 14 or to add an application node to allocated tiers 15to increase processing capacity of distributed computing system 10.

In general, allocated tiers 15 include one or more tiers of applicationnodes 14 that are currently providing a computing environment forexecution of user software applications. In addition, although notillustrated separately, application nodes 14 may include one or moreinput/output (I/O) nodes. Application nodes 14 typically have moresubstantial I/O capabilities than control node 12, and are typicallyconfigured with more computing resources (e.g., processors and memory).Maintenance pool 17 includes a set of nodes that either could not beinventoried or that failed and have been taken out of service fromallocated tiers 15.

Control node 12 provides the system support functions for managingdistributed computing system 10. More specifically, control node 12manages the roles of each computing node within distributed computingsystem 10 and the execution of software applications within thedistributed computing system. In general, distributed computing system10 includes at least one control node 12, but may utilize additionalcontrol nodes to assist with the management functions.

Other control nodes 12 (not shown in FIG. 1) are optional and may beassociated with a different subset of the computing nodes withindistributed computing system 10. Moreover, control node 12 may bereplicated to provide primary and backup administration functions,thereby allowing for graceful handling a failover in the event controlnode 12 fails.

Network 18 provides a communications interconnect for control node 12and application nodes 14, as well as discovered nodes, unallocated nodesand failed nodes. Communications network 18 permits internodecommunications among the computing nodes as the nodes performinterrelated operations and functions. Communications network 18 maycomprise, for example, direct connections between one or more of thecomputing nodes, one or more customer networks maintained by anenterprise, local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) or acombination thereof. Communications network 18 may include a number ofswitches, routers, firewalls, load balancers, and the like.

In one embodiment, each of the computing nodes within distributedcomputing system 10 executes a common general-purpose operating system.One example of a general-purpose operating system is the Windows™operating system provided by Microsoft Corporation. In some embodiments,the general-purpose operating system such as the Linux kernel.

In the example of FIG. 1, control node 12 is responsible for softwareimage management. The term “software image” refers to a complete set ofsoftware loaded on an individual computing node, including the operatingsystem and all boot code, middleware and application files. Systemadministrator 20 may interact with control node 12 and identify theparticular types of software images to be associated with applicationnodes 14. Alternatively, administration software executing on controlnode 12 may automatically identify the appropriate software images to bedeployed to application nodes 14 based on the input received from systemadministrator 20. For example, control node 12 may determine the type ofsoftware image to load onto an application node 14 based on thefunctions assigned to the node by system administrator 20. Applicationnodes 14 may be divided into a number of groups based on their assignedfunctionality. As one example, application nodes 14 may be divided intoa first group to provide web server functions, a second group to providebusiness application functions and a third group to provide databasefunctions. The application nodes 14 of each group may be associated withdifferent software images.

Control node 12 provides for the efficient allocation and management ofthe various software images within distributed computing system 10. Insome embodiments, control node 12 generates a “golden image” for eachtype of software image that may be deployed on one or more ofapplication nodes 14. As described herein, the term “golden image”refers to a reference copy of a complete software stack.

System administrator 20 may create a golden image by installing anoperating system, middleware and software applications on a computingnode and then making a complete copy of the installed software. In thismanner, a golden image may be viewed as a “master copy” of the softwareimage for a particular computing function. Control node 12 maintains asoftware image repository 26 that stores the golden images associatedwith distributed computing system 10.

Control node 12 may create a copy of a golden image, referred to as an“image instance,” for each possible image instance that may be deployedwithin distributed computing system 10 for a similar computing function.In other words, control node 12 pre-generates a set of K image instancesfor a golden image, where K represents the maximum number of imageinstances for which distributed computing system 10 is configured forthe particular type of computing function. For a given computingfunction, control node 12 may create the complete set of image instanceeven if not all of the image instances will be initially deployed.Control node 12 creates different sets of image instances for differentcomputing functions, and each set may have a different number of imageinstances depending on the maximum number of image instances that may bedeployed for each set. Control node 12 stores the image instances withinsoftware image repository 26. Each image instance represents acollection of bits that may be deployed on an application node.

Further details of software image management are described in co-pendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/046,133, entitled “MANAGEMENT OFSOFTWARE IMAGES FOR COMPUTING NODES OF A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEM,”filed Jan. 28, 2005 and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/046,152, entitled “UPDATING SOFTWARE IMAGES ASSOCIATED WITH ADISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEM,” filed Jan. 28, 2005, each of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In general, distributed computing system 10 conforms to a multi-level,hierarchical organizational model that includes four distinct levels:fabric, domains, tiers and nodes. Control node 12 is responsible for alllevels of management, including fabric management, domain creation, tiercreation and node allocation and deployment.

As used herein, the “fabric” level generally refers to the logicalconstructs that allow for definition, deployment, partitioning andmanagement of distinct enterprise applications. In other words, fabricrefers to the integrated set of hardware, system software andapplication software that can be “knitted” together to form a completeenterprise system. In general, the fabric level consists of twoelements: fabric components or fabric payload. Control node 12 providesfabric management and fabric services as described herein.

In contrast, a “domain” is a logical abstraction for containment andmanagement within the fabric. The domain provides a logical unit offabric allocation that enables the fabric to be partitioned amongstmultiple uses, e.g. different business services.

Domains are comprised of tiers, such as a 4-tier application model (webserver, application server, business logic, persistence layer) or asingle tier monolithic application. Fabric domains contain the free poolof devices available for assignment to tiers.

A tier is a logically associated group of fabric components within adomain that share a set of attributes: usage, availability model orbusiness service mission. Tiers are used to define structure within adomain e.g. N-tier application, and each tier represents a differentcomputing function. A user, such as administrator 20, typically definesthe tier structure within a domain. The hierarchical architecture mayprovide a high degree of flexibility in mapping customer applications tological models which run within the fabric environment. The tier is oneconstruct in this modeling process and is the logical container ofapplication resources.

The lowest level, the node level, includes the physical components ofthe fabric. This includes computing nodes that, as described above,provide operating environments for system applications and enterprisesoftware applications. In addition, the node level may include networkdevices (e.g., Ethernet switches, load balancers and firewalls) used increating the infrastructure of network 18. The node level may furtherinclude network storage nodes that are network connected to the fabric.

System administrator 20 accesses administration software executing oncontrol node 12 to logically define the hierarchical organization ofdistributed computing system 10. For example, system administrator 20may provide organizational data 21 to develop a model for the enterpriseand logically define the enterprise fabric. System administrator 20 may,for instance, develop a model for the enterprise that includes a numberof domains, tiers, and node slots hierarchically arranged within asingle enterprise fabric.

More specifically, system administrator 20 defines one or more domainsthat each correspond to a single enterprise application or service, suchas a customer relation management (CRM) service. System administrator 20further defines one or more tiers within each domain that represent thefunctional subcomponents of applications and services provided by thedomain. As an example, system administrator 20 may define a storefrontdomain within the enterprise fabric that includes a web tier, anapplication tier and a database tier. In this manner, distributedcomputing system 10 may be configured to automatically provide webserver functions, business application functions and database functions.

For each of the tiers, control node 12 creates a number of “node slots”equal to the maximum number of application nodes 14 that may bedeployed. In general, each node slot represents a data set thatdescribes specific information for a corresponding node, such assoftware resources for a physical node that is assigned to the nodeslot. The node slots may, for instance, identify a particular softwareimage instance associated with an application node 14 as well as anetwork address associated with that particular image instance.

In this manner, each of the tiers include one or more node slots thatreference particular software image instances to boot on the applicationnodes 14 to which each software image instance is assigned. Theapplication nodes 14 to which control node 12A assigns the imageinstances temporarily inherit the network address assigned to the imageinstance for as long as the image instance is deployed on thatparticular application node. If for some reason the image instance ismoved to a different application node 14, control node 12A moves thenetwork address to that new application node.

System administrator 20 may further define specific node requirementsfor each tier of the fabric. For example, the node requirementsspecified by system administrator 20 may include a central processingunit (CPU) count, a CPU speed, an amount of memory (e.g., RAM), localdisk characteristics and other hardware characteristics that may bedetected on the individual computing nodes. System administrator 20 mayalso specify user-defined hardware attributes of the computing nodes,such as whether I/O (like HBA) is required. The user-defined hardwareattributes are typically not capable of detection during an automaticinventory. In this manner, system administrator 20 creates a list ofattributes that the tier requires of its candidate computing nodes. Inaddition, particular node requirements may be defined for software imageinstances.

In addition to the node requirements described above, systemadministrator 20 may further define policies that are used whenre-provisioning computing nodes within the fabric. System administrator20 may define policies regarding tier characteristics, such as a minimumnumber of nodes a tier requires, an indication of whether or not afailed node is dynamically replaced by a node from free pool 13, apriority for each tier relative to other tiers, an indication of whetheror not a tier allows nodes to be re-provisioned to other tiers tosatisfy processing requirements by other tiers of a higher priority orother policies. Control node 12 uses the policy information input bysystem administrator 20 to re-provision computing nodes to meet tierprocessing capacity demands.

After receiving input from system administrator 20 defining thearchitecture and policy of the enterprise fabric, control node 12identifies unallocated nodes within free pool 13 that satisfy requirednode attributes. Control node 12 automatically assigns unallocated nodesfrom free pool 13 to respective tier node slots of a tier. As will bedescribed in detail herein, in one embodiment, control node 12 mayassign computing nodes to the tiers in a “best fit” fashion.Particularly, control node 12 assigns computing nodes to the tier whosenode attributes most closely match the node requirements of the tier asdefined by administrator 20. The assignment of the computing nodes mayoccur on a tier-by-tier basis beginning with a tier with the highestpriority and ending with a tier with the lowest priority. Alternatively,or in addition, assignment of computing nodes may be based ondependencies defined between tiers.

As will be described in detail below, control node 12 may automaticallyadd unallocated nodes from free pool 13 to a tier when more processingcapacity is needed within the tier, remove nodes from a tier to the freepool when the tier has excess capacity, transfer nodes from tier to tierto meet processing demands, or replace failed nodes with nodes from thefree pool. Thus, computing resources, i.e., computing nodes, may beautomatically shared between tiers and domains within the fabric basedon user-defined policies to dynamically address high-processing demands,failures and other events.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example embodiment oforganizational data 21 that defines a model logically representing anenterprise fabric in accordance with the invention. In the exampleillustrated in FIG. 2, control node 12 (FIG. 1) maintains organizationaldata 21 to define a simple e-commerce fabric 32.

In this example, e-commerce fabric 32 includes a storefront domain 34Aand a financial planning domain 34B. Storefront domain 34A correspondsto the enterprise storefront domain and allows customers to find andpurchase products over a network, such as the Internet. Financialplanning domain 34B allows one or more employees to perform financialplanning tasks for the enterprise.

Tier level 31C includes one or more tiers within each domain thatrepresent the functional subcomponents of applications and servicesprovided by the domain. For example, storefront domain 34A includes aweb server tier (labeled “web tier”) 36A, a business application tier(labeled “app tier”) 36B, and a database tier (labeled “DB tier”) 36C.Web server tier 36A, business application tier 36B and database tier 36Cinteract with one another to present a customer with an onlinestorefront application and services. For example, the customer mayinteract with web server tier 36A via a web browser. When the customersearches for a product, web server tier 36A may interacts with businessapplication tier 36B, which may in turn access a database tier 36C.Similarly, financial planning domain 34B includes a financial planningtier 36D that provides subcomponents of applications and services of thefinancial planning domain 34B. Thus, in this example, a domain mayinclude a single tier.

Tier level 31D includes one or more logical node slots 38A-38H (“nodeslots 38”) within each of the tiers. Each of node slots 38 include nodespecific information, such as software resources for an application node14 that is assigned to a respective one of the node slots 38. Node slots38 may, for instance, identify particular software image instanceswithin image repository 26 and map the identified software imageinstances to respective application nodes 14. As an example, node slots38A and 38B belonging to web server tier 36A may reference particularsoftware image instances used to boot two application nodes 14 toprovide web server functions. Similarly, the other node slots 38 mayreference software image instances to provide business applicationfunctions, database functions, or financial application functionsdepending upon the tier to which the node slots are logicallyassociated.

Although in the example of FIG. 2, there are two node slots 38corresponding to each tier, the tiers may include any number of nodeslots depending on the processing capacity needed on the tier.Furthermore, not all of node slots 38 may be currently assigned to anapplication node 14. For example, node slot 28B may be associated withan inactive software image instance and, when needed, may be assigned toan application node 14 for deployment of the software image instance.

In this example, organizational data 21 associates free node pool 13with the highest-level of the model, i.e., e-commerce fabric 32. Asdescribed above, control node 12 may automatically assign unallocatednodes from free node pool 13 to at least a portion of tier node slots 38of tiers 36 as needed using the “best fit” algorithm described above oranother algorithm. Additionally, control node 12 may also add nodes fromfree pool 13 to a tier when more processing capacity is needed withinthe tier, remove nodes from a tier to free pool 13 when a tier hasexcess capacity, transfer nodes from tier to tier to meet processingdemands, and replace failed nodes with nodes from the free tier.

Although not illustrated, the model for the enterprise fabric mayinclude multiple free node pools. For example, the model may associatefree node pools with individual domains at the domain level or withindividual tier levels. In this manner, administrator 20 may definepolicies for the model such that unallocated computing nodes of freenode pools associated with domains or tiers may only be used within thedomain or tier to which they are assigned. In this manner, a portion ofthe computing nodes may be shared between domains of the entire fabricwhile other computing nodes may be restricted to particular domains ortiers.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that provides a high-level overview of theoperation of control node 12 when configuring distributed computingsystem 10. Initially, control node 12 receives input from a systemadministrator defining the hierarchical organization of distributedcomputing system 10 (50). In one example, control node 12 receives inputthat defines a model that specifies a number of hierarchically arrangednodes as described in detail in FIG. 2. Particularly, the definedarchitecture of distributed computing system 10 includes an overallfabric having a number of hierarchically arranged domains, tiers andnode slots.

During this process, control node 12 may receive input specifying noderequirements of each of the tiers of the hierarchical model (52). Asdescribed above, administrator 20 may specify a list of attributes,e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) count, a CPU speed, an amount ofmemory (e.g., RAM), or local disk characteristics, that the tiersrequire of their candidate computing nodes. In addition, control node 12may further receive user-defined custom attributes, such as requiringthe node to have I/O, such as HBA connectivity. The node requirements orattributes defined by system administrator 20 may each include a nameused to identify the characteristic, a data type (e.g., integer, long,float or string), and a weight to define the importance of therequirement.

Control node 12 identifies the attributes for all candidate computingnodes within free pool 13 or a lower priority tier (54). As describedabove, control node 12 may have already discovered the computing nodesand inventoried the candidate computing nodes to identify hardwarecharacteristics of all candidate computing nodes. Additionally, controlnode 12 may receive input from system administrator 20 identifyingspecialized capabilities of one or more computing nodes that are notdetectable by the inventory process.

Control node 12 dynamically assigns computing nodes to the node slots ofeach tier based on the node requirements specified for the tiers and theidentified node attributes (56). Population of the node slots of thetier may be performed on a tier-by-tier basis beginning with the tierwith the highest priority, i.e., the tier with the highest weightassigned to it. As will be described in detail, in one embodiment,control node 12 may populate the node slots of the tiers with thecomputing nodes that have attributes that most closely match the noderequirements of the particular tiers. Thus, the computing nodes may beassigned using a “best fit” algorithm.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operation of controlnode 12 when assigning computing nodes to node slots of tiers.Initially, control node 12 selects a tier to enable (60). As describedabove, control node 12 may select the tier based on a weight or priorityassigned to the tier by administrator 20. Control node 12 may, forexample, initially select the tier with the highest priority andsuccessively enable the tiers based on priority.

Next, control node 12 retrieves the node requirements associated withthe selected tier (62). Control node 12 may, for example, maintain adatabase having entries for each node slot, where the entries identifythe node requirements for each of the tiers. Control node 12 retrievesthe node requirements for the selected tier from the database.

In addition, control node 12 accesses the database and retrieves thecomputing node attributes of one of the unallocated computing nodes offree pool 13. Control node 12 compares the node requirements of the tierto the node attributes of the selected computing node (64).

Based on the comparison, control node 12 determines whether the nodeattributes of the computing node meets the minimum node requirements ofthe tier (66). If the node attributes of the selected computing node donot meet the minimum node requirements of the tier, then the computingnode is removed from the list of candidate nodes for this particulartier (68). Control node 12 repeats the process by retrieving the nodeattributes of another of the computing nodes of the free pool andcompares the node requirements of the tier to the node attributes of thecomputing node.

If the node attributes of the selected computing node meet the minimumnode requirements of the tier (YES of 66), control node 12 determineswhether the node attributes are an exact match to the node requirementsof the tier (70). If the node attributes of the selected computing nodeand the node requirements of the tier are a perfect match (YES of 70),the computing node is immediately assigned from the free pool to a nodeslot of the tier and the image instance for the slot is associated withthe computing node for deployment (72).

Control node 12 then determines whether the node count for the tier ismet (74). Control node 12 may, for example, determine whether the tieris assigned the minimum number of nodes necessary to provide adequateprocessing capabilities. In another example, control node 12 maydetermine whether the tier is assigned the ideal number of nodes definedby system administrator 20. When the node count for the tier is met,control node 12 selects the next tier to enable, e.g., the tier with thenext largest priority, and repeats the process until all defined tiersare enabled, i.e., populated with application nodes (60).

If the node attributes of the selected computing node and the noderequirements of the tier are not a perfect match control node 12calculates and records a “processing energy” of the node (76). As usedherein, the term “processing energy” refers to a numericalrepresentation of the difference between the node attributes of aselected node and the node requirements of the tier. A positiveprocessing energy indicates the node attributes more than satisfy thenode requirements of the tier. The magnitude of the processing energyrepresents the degree to which the node requirements exceed the tierrequirements.

After computing and recording the processing energy of the nodes,control node 12 determines whether there are more candidate nodes infree pool 13 (78). If there are additional candidate nodes, control node12 repeats the process by retrieving the computing node attributes ofanother one of the computing nodes of the free pool of computing nodesand comparing the node requirements of the tier to the node attributesof the computing node (64).

When all of the candidate computing nodes in the free pool have beenexamined, control node 12 selects the candidate computing node havingthe minimum positive processing energy and assigns the selectedcomputing node to a node slot of the tier (80). Control node 12determines whether the minimum node count for the tier is met (82). Ifthe minimum node count for the tier has not been met, control node 12assigns the computing node with the next lowest calculated processingenergy to the tier (80). Control node 12 repeats this process until thenode count is met. At this point, control node 12 selects the next tierto enable, e.g., the tier with the next largest priority (60).

In the event there are an insufficient number of computing nodes in freepool 13, or an insufficient number of computing nodes that meet the tierrequirements, control node 12 notifies system administrator 20. Systemadministrator 20 may add more nodes to free pool 13, add more capablenodes to the free pool, reduce the node requirements of the tier so moreof the unallocated nodes meet the requirements, or reduce the configuredminimum node counts for the tiers.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operation of controlnode 12 when adding an additional computing node to a tier to meetincreased processing demands. Initially, control node 12 or systemadministrator 20 identifies a need for additional processing capacity onone of the tiers (90). Control node 12 may, for example, identify a highprocessing load on the tier or receive input from a system administratoridentifying the need for additional processing capacity on the tier.

Control node 12 then determines whether there are any computing nodes inthe free pool of nodes that meet the minimum node requirements of thetier (92). When there are one or more nodes that meet the minimum noderequirements of the tier, control node 12 selects the node from the freepool based the node requirements of the tier, as described above, (94)and assigns the node to the tier (95). As described in detail withrespect to FIG. 4, control node 12 may determine whether there are anynodes that have node attributes that are an exact match to the noderequirements of the tier. If an exact match is found, the correspondingcomputing node is assigned to a node slot of the tier. If no exact matchis found, control node 12 computes the processing energy for each nodeand assigns the computing node with the minimum processing energy to thetier. Control node 12 remotely powers on the assigned node and remotelyboots the node with the image instance associated with the node slot.Additionally, the booted computing node inherits the network addressassociated with the node slot.

If there are no adequate computing nodes in the free pool, i.e., nonodes at all or no nodes that match the minimal node requirements of thetier, control node 12 identifies the tiers with a lower priority thanthe tier needing more processing capacity (96).

Control node 12 determines which of the nodes of the lower prioritytiers meet the minimum requirements of the tier in need of processingcapacity (98). Control node 12 may, for example, compare the attributesof each of the nodes assigned to node slots of the lower priority tiersto the node requirements of the tier in need of processing capacity.Lower priority tiers that have the minimum number of computing nodes maybe removed from possible tiers from which to harvest an applicationnode. If, however, all the lower priority tiers have the minimum numberof computing nodes defined for the respective tier, the lowest prioritytier is selected from which to harvest the one or more nodes.

Control node 12 calculates the processing energy of each of the nodes ofthe lower priority tiers that meet the minimum requirements (100). Theenergies of the nodes are calculated using the differences between thenode attributes and the node requirements of the tier needing additionalcapacity. Control node 12 selects the computing node with the lowestprocessing energy that meets the minimum requirements, and assigns theselected computing node to the tier in need of processing capacity (102,95).

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operation of controlnode 12 when harvesting excess node capacity from one of the tiers andreturning the harvested computing node to free pool 13. Initially,control node 12 identifies a tier having excess node capacity (110).Control node 12 may, for example, periodically check the node capacityof the tiers to identify any tiers having excess node capacity.Performing a periodic check and removal of excess nodes increases thelikelihood that a capable computing node will be in free pool 13 in theevent one of the tiers needs additional node capacity.

When harvesting a node, control node 12 calculates the processing energyof all the nodes in the tier as described above with reference to FIG. 4(112). Control node 12 identifies the node within the tier with thehighest processing energy and returns the identified node to the freepool of nodes (114, 116). As described above, the node with the highestprocessing energy corresponds to the node whose node attributes are themost in excess of the node requirements of the tier.

Returning the node to the free pool may involve remotely powering offthe computing node and updating the database to associate the harvestednode with free pool 13. In addition, control node 12 updates thedatabase to disassociate the returned node with the node slot to whichit was assigned. At this point, the node no longer uses the networkaddress associated with the image instance mapped to the node slot.Control node 12 may, therefore, assign a temporary network address tothe node while the node is assigned to free pool 13.

FIG. 7 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface 120presented by control node 12 with which administrator 20 interacts todefine tiers for a particular domain. In the example illustrated in FIG.7, system administrator 20 has selected the “Collage Domain.” Userinterface 120 presents the tiers that are currently in the selecteddomain. In the example illustrated, the Collage Domain includes threetiers, “test tier 1,” “test tier 2,” and “test tier 3.” As shown in FIG.7, in this example, each of the tiers includes two nodes. In addition,user interface 120 lists the type of software image currently deployedto application nodes for each of the tiers. In the example illustrated,image “applone (1.0.0)” is deployed to the nodes of test tier 1 andimage “appltwo (1.0.0)” is deployed to the nodes of test tier 2. Systemadministrator 20 may add one or more tiers to the domain by clicking onnew tier button 122.

FIG. 8 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface 130 fordefining properties of the tiers. In particular, user interface 130allows system administrator 20 to input a name for the tier, adescription of the tier, and an image associated with the tier. Theimage associated with the tier refers to a master image from which imageinstances are generated and deployed to the nodes assigned to the tier.

When configuring a tier, system administrator 20 may elect to activateemail alerts. For example, system administrator 20 may activate theemail alerts feature in order to receive email alerts providing systemadministrator 20 with critical and/or non-critical tier information,such as a notification that a tier has been upgraded, a node of the tierhas failed or the like. Furthermore, system administrator 20 may inputvarious policies, such node failure rules. For example, systemadministrator 20 may identify whether control node 12 should reboot anode in case of failure or whether the failed node should automaticallybe moved to maintenance pool 17. Similarly, system administrator 20 mayidentify whether nodes assigned to the tier may be harvested by othertiers.

User interface 130 may also allow system administrator 20 to input noderequirements of a tier. In order to input node requirements of a tier,system administrator 20 may click on the “Requirements” tab 132, causinguser interface 130 to present an input area to particular noderequirements of the tier.

FIG. 9 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface 140 forviewing and identifying properties of a computing node. User interface140 allows system administrator 20 to define a name, description, andlocation (including a rack and slot) of a computing node. In additionuser interface 140 may specify user-defined properties of a node, suchas whether the computing node has I/O HBA capabilities.

User interface 140 also displays properties that control node 12 hasidentified during the computing node inventory process. In this example,user interface 140 presents system administrator 20 with the a CPU nodecount, a CPU speed, the amount of RAM, the disk size and othercharacteristics that are identifiable during the automated nodeinventory. User interface 140 additionally presents interfaceinformation to system administrator 20. Specifically, user interface 140provides system administrator 20 with a list of components and theirassociated IP and MAC addresses.

User interface 140 also allows system administrator 20 to define othercustom requirements. For example, system administrator 20 may define oneor more attributes and add those attributes to the list of nodeattributes presented to system administrator 20.

FIG. 10 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface 150 forviewing software images. User interface 150 presents to a systemadministrator or another user a list of images maintained by controlnode 12 within image repository 26. The image list further includes thestatus of each image (i.e., either active or inactive), the version ofthe image, the operating system on which the image should be run, theoperating system version on which the image should be run and a briefdescription of the image.

System administrator 20 or another user may select an image by clickingon the box in front of the image identifier/name and perform one or moreactions on the image. Actions that system administrator 20 may performon an image include deleting the image, updating the image, and thelike. System administrator 20 may select one of the image actions viadropdown menu 152. In some embodiments, user interface 150 may furtherdisplay other details about the images such as the node to which theimages are assigned (if the node status is “active”), the networkaddress associated with the images and the like.

FIG. 11 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface 160 forviewing a hardware inventory report. User interface 160 presents tosystem administrator 20 or another user a list of the nodes that arecurrently assigned to a domain. System administrator 20 may elect toview the nodes for the entire domain, for a single tier within thedomain or for a single rack within a tier.

For each node, user interface 160 presents a node ID, a status of thenode, the tier to which the node belongs, a hostname associated with thenode, a NIC IP address, a rack location, a slot location, the number ofCPU's of the node, the amount of RAM on the node, the number of disks onthe node, whether the node has I/O HBA, and the number of NICs of thenode.

System administrator 20 or other user may select a node by clicking onthe box in front of the node identifier/name and perform one or moreactions on the node. Actions that system administrator 20 may perform onthe node include deleting the node, updating the node attributes orother properties of the node, and the like. System administrator 20 mayselect one of the node actions via dropdown menu 162.

FIG. 12 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface 170 forviewing discovered nodes that are located in discovered pool 11. Foreach node, user interface 170 presents a node ID, a state of the node, aNIC IP address, a rack location, a slot location, the number of CPU's ofthe node, the amount of RAM on the node, the number of disks on thenode, whether the node has I/O HBA, and the number of NICs of the node.

FIG. 13 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface 180 forviewing users of distributed computing system 10. User interface 180presents a list of users as well as the role assigned to each of theusers and the status of each of the users. Thus, system administrator 20may define different roles to each of the users. For example, a user maybe either an operator (i.e., general user) or an administrator. Systemadministrator 20 may add a new user to the list of users by clicking onthe “New User” button 182.

FIG. 14 is a screen illustration of an exemplary user interface 190 forviewing alerts for distributed computing system 10. For each of thealerts, user interface 190 identifies the severity of the alert, whetherthe alert has been acknowledged, an object associated with the alert, anevent associated with the alert, a state of the alert, a user associatedwith the alert and a date associated with the alert.

System administrator 20 or other user may select an alert by clicking onthe box in front of the logged alert and perform one or more actions onthe logged alert. Actions that system administrator 20 may performinclude deleting the alert, changing the status of the alert, or thelike. System administrator 20 may specify the log actions via dropdownmenu 192.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of control node12 in further detail. In the illustrated example, control node 12includes a monitoring subsystem 202, a service level automationinfrastructure (SLAI) 204, and a business logic tier (BLT) 206.

Monitoring subsystem 202 provides real-time monitoring of thedistributed computing system 10. In particular, monitoring subsystem 202dynamically collects status data 203 from the hardware and softwareoperating within distributed computing system 10, and feeds the statusdata in the form of monitor inputs 208 to SLAI 204. Monitoring inputs208 may be viewed as representing the actual state of the fabric definedfor the organizational model implemented by distributed computing system10. Monitoring subsystem 202 may utilize well defined interfaces, e.g.,the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and the Java ManagementExtensions (JMX), to collect and export real-time monitoring informationto SLAI 204.

SLAI 204 may be viewed as an automation subsystem that provides supportfor autonomic computing and acts as a central nervous system for thecontrolled fabric. In general, SLAI 204 receives monitoring inputs 208from monitoring subsystem 202, analyzes the inputs and outputsappropriate action requests 212 to BLT 206. In one embodiment, SLAI 204is a cybernetic system that controls the defined fabric via feedbackloops. More specifically, administrator 20 may interact with BLT 206 todefine an expected state 210 for the fabric. BLT 206 communicatesexpected state 210 to SLAI 204. SLAI 204 receives the monitoring inputsfrom monitoring subsystem 202 and applies rules to determine the mosteffective way of reducing the differences between the expected andactual states for the fabric.

For example, SLAI 204 may apply a rule to determine that a node within ahigh priority tier has failed and that the node should be replaced byharvesting a node from a lower priority tier. In this example, SLAI 204outputs an action request 212 to invoke BLT 206 to move a node from onetier to the other.

In general, BLT 206 implements high-level business operations onfabrics, domains and tiers. SLAI 204 invokes BLT 206 to bring the actualstate of the fabric into accordance with the expected state. Inparticular, BLT 206 outputs fabric actions 207 to perform the physicalfabric changes. In addition, BLT 206 outputs an initial expected state210 to SLAI 204 and initial monitoring information 214 to SLAI 204 andmonitoring subsystem 202, respectively. In addition, BLT 206 outputsnotifications 211 to SLAI 204 and monitoring subsystem 202 to indicatethe state and monitoring changes to distributed computing system 10. Asone example, BLT 206 may provide control operations that can be used toreplace failed nodes. For example, BLT 206 may output an action requestindicating that a node having address 10.10.10.10 has been removed fromtier ABC and a node having address 10.10.10.11 has been added to tierXYZ. In response, monitoring subsystem 202 stops attempting to collectstatus data 203 from node 10.10.10.10 and starts monitoring for statusdata from node 10.10.10.11. In addition, SLAI 204 updates an internalmodel to automatically associate monitoring inputs from node 10.10.10.11with tier XYZ.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of monitoringsubsystem 202. In general, monitoring subsystem 202 dynamically detectsand monitors a variety of hardware and software components within thefabric. For example, monitoring subsystem 202 identifies, in a timelyand efficient manner, any computing nodes that have failed, i.e., anynode that does not respond to a request to a known service. Moregenerally, monitoring subsystem 202 provides a concise, consistent andconstantly updating view of the components of the fabric.

As described further below, monitoring subsystem 202 employs a modulararchitecture that allows new detection and monitoring collectors 224 tobe “plugged-in” for existing and new protocols and for existing and newhardware and software. As illustrated in FIG. 16, monitoring subsystem202 provides a plug-in architecture that allows different informationcollectors 224 to be installed. In general, collectors 224 areresponsible for protocol-specific collection of monitoring information.The plug-in architecture allows for new protocols to be added by simplyadhering to a collector plug-in signature. In this example, monitoringsubsystem 202 includes collectors 224A and 224B for collectinginformation from operating systems and applications executing on nodeswithin tier A and tier B, respectively.

In one embodiment, collectors 224 are loaded at startup of control node12 and are configured with information retrieved from BLT 206.Monitoring engine 222 receives collection requests from SLAI 204, sortsand prioritizes the requests, and invokes the appropriate one ofcollectors 224 based on the protocol specified in the collectionrequests. The invoked collector is responsible for collecting therequired status data and returning the status data to monitoring engine222. If the collector is unable to collect the requested status data,the collector returns an error code.

In one embodiment, collectors 224 are Java code compiled into ajar fileand loaded with a class loader at run time. Each of collectors 224 hasan associated configuration file written in a data description language,such as the extensible markup language (XML). In addition, a user mayinteract with BLT 206 to add run-time configuration to dynamicallyconfigure collectors 224 for specific computing environments. Each ofcollectors 224 expose an application programming interface (API) tomonitoring engine 222 for communication and data exchange.

A user, such as a system administrator, specifies the protocol orprotocols to be used for monitoring a software image when the image iscreated. In addition, the users may specify the protocols to be used formonitoring the nodes and each service executing on the nodes. Exampleprotocols supported by the collectors 224 include Secure Shell (SSH),Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Internet Control MessageProtocol (ICMP) ping, Java Management Extensions (JMX) and the HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP).

Some protocols require special privileges, e.g., root privileges, toperform the required data collection. In this case, the correspondingcollectors 224 communicate with a separate process that executes as theroot. Moreover, some protocols may require deployment and/orconfiguration of data providers within the fabric. Software agents may,for example, be installed and configured on nodes and configured onother hardware. If needed, custom in-fabric components may be deployed.

In this example, the modular architecture of monitoring subsystem 202also supports one or more plug-in interfaces 220 for data collectionfrom a wide range of third-party monitoring systems 228. Third-partymonitoring systems 228 monitor portions of the fabric and may bevendor-specific.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of SLAI 204 infurther detail. In the illustrated embodiment, SLAI 204 is composed ofthree subsystems: a sensor subsystem 240, an analysis subsystem 244 andan effector subsystem 248.

In general, sensor subsystem 240 receives actual state data frommonitoring subsystem 202 in the form of monitoring inputs 208 andsupplies ongoing, dynamic input data to analysis subsystem 244. Forexample, sensor subsystem 240 is notified of physical changes todistributed computing system 10 by monitoring subsystem 202. Sensorsubsystem 240 uses the state data received from monitoring subsystem 202to maintain ongoing, calculated values that can be sent to analysissubsystem 244 in accordance with scheduler 242.

In one embodiment, sensor subsystem 240 performs time-based hierarchicaldata aggregation of the actual state data in accordance with the definedorganization model. Sensor subsystem 240 maintains organizational datain a tree-like structure that reflects the current configuration of thehierarchical organization model. Sensor subsystem 240 uses theorganizational data to perform the real-time data aggregation and maptiers and domains to specific nodes. Sensor subsystem 240 maintains theorganizational data based on notifications 211 received from BLT 206.

Sensor subsystem 240 sends inputs to analysis subsystem 244 tocommunicate the aggregated data on a periodic or event-driven basis.Analysis subsystem 244 may register an interest in a particularaggregated data value with sensor subsystem 240 and request updates at aspecified frequency. In response, sensor subsystem 240 interacts withmonitoring subsystem 202 and scheduler 242 to generate the aggregateddata required by analysis subsystem 244.

Sensor subsystem 240 performs arbitrary data aggregations via instancesof plug-in classes (referred to as “triggers”) that define theaggregations. Each trigger is registered under a compound name based onthe entity being monitored and the type of data being gathered. Forexample, a trigger may be defined to aggregate and compute an averagecomputing load for a tier every five minutes. Analysis subsystem 244requests the aggregated data based on the registered names. In someembodiments, analysis subsystem 244 may define calculations directly andpass them to sensor subsystem 240 dynamically.

Analysis subsystem 244 is composed of a plurality of forward chainingrule engines 246A-246N. In general, rule engines 246 match patterns in acombination of configuration data and monitoring data, which ispresented by extraction agent 251 in the form of events. Events containthe aggregated data values that are sent to rule engines 246 inaccordance with scheduler 242.

Sensor subsystem 240 may interact with analysis subsystem 244 viatrigger listeners 247 that receives updates from a trigger within sensorsubsystem 240 when specified events occur. An event may be based onsystem state (e.g., a node transitioning to an up or down state) or maybe time based.

Analysis subsystem 244 allows rule sets to be loaded in source form andcompiled at load time into discrimination networks. Each rule setspecifies trigger-delivered attributes. Upon loading the rule sets,analysis subsystem 244 establishes trigger listeners 247 to receivesensor notifications and update respective working memories of ruleengines 246. As illustrated in FIG. 17, each of rule engines 246 mayserve a different tier defined within the fabric. Alternatively,multiple rule engines 246 may serve a single tier or a single ruleengine may serve multiple tiers.

Rule engines 246 process the events and invoke action requests via callsto effector subsystem 248. In addition, rule engines 246 provide acall-back interface so that effector subsystem 248 can inform a ruleengine when an action has completed. Rule engines 246 prevent aparticular rule from re-firing as long as any action invoked by the rulehas not finished. In general, rules contain notification calls andservice invocations though either may be disabled by configuration ofeffector subsystem 248. BLT 206 supplies initial system configurationdescriptions to seed each of rule engines 246.

In general, rule engines 246 analyze the events and discoverdiscrepancies between an expected state of the fabric and an actualstate. Each of rule engines 246 may be viewed as software that performslogical reasoning using knowledge encoded in high-level condition-actionrules. Each of rule engines 246 applies automated reasoning that worksforward from preconditions to goals defined by system administrator 20.For example, rule engines 246 may apply modus ponens inferences rules.

Rule engines 246 output requests to effector subsystem 248 which produceactions requests 212 for BLT 206 to resolve the discrepancies. Effectorsubsystem 248 performs all operations on behalf of analysis subsystem244. For example, event generator 250, task invocation module 252 andlogger 254 of effector subsystem 248 perform event generation, BLTaction invocation and rule logging, respectively. More specifically,task invocation module 252 invokes asynchronous operations within BLT206. In response, BLT 206 creates a new thread of control for each taskwhich is tracked by a unique task identifier (task id). Rules engine 246uses the task id to determine when a task completes and, if needed, tore-fire any rules that were pended until completion of the task. Thesetasks may take arbitrary amounts of time, and rules engine 246 tracksthe progress of individual task via change notifications 211 produced byBLT 206.

Event generator 250 creates persistent event records of the state ofprocessing of SLAI 204 and stores the event records within a database.Clients uses these event records to track progress and determine thecurrent state of the SLAI 204.

Logger 254 generates detailed trace information about system activitiesfor use in rule development and debugging. The logging level can beraised or lowered as needed without changing operation of SLAI 204.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an example working memory 270 associatedwith rule engines 246. In this example, working memory 270 includes aread-only first data region 272 that stores the expected state receivedfrom BLT 206. Data region 272 is read-only in the sense that it cannotbe modified in response to a trigger from sensor subsystem 240 or byrule engines 246 without notification from BLT 206.

In addition, working memory 270 includes a second data region 274 thatis modifiable (i.e., read/write) and may be updated by monitoringsubsystem 202 or used internally by rule engines 246. In general, dataregion 274 stores aggregated data representing the actual state of thefabric and can be updated by sensor subsystem 240 or by rule engines246. The actual state may consist of a set of property annotations thatcan be attached to objects received from BLT 206 or to objects locallydefined within a rule engine, such as local object 276.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment for BLT206. In this example, BLT 206 includes a set of one or more web servicedefinition language (WSDL) interfaces 300, a report generator 302, afabric administration interface service 304, a fabric view service 306,a user administration service 308, a task interface 311, a task manager312 and an event subsystem 315.

As described, BLT 206 provides the facilities necessary to create andadminister the organizational model (e.g., fabric, domains, tiers andnodes) implemented by distributed computing system 10. In general, BLT206 abstracts access to the persisted configuration state of the fabric,and controls the interactions with interfaces to fabric hardwareservices. As such, BLT 206 provides fabric management capabilities, suchas the ability to create a tier and replace a failed node. WSDLinterfaces 300 provide web service interfaces to the functionality ofBLT 206 that may be invoked by web service clients 313. Many of WSDLinterfaces 300 offered by BLT 206 allow administrator 20 to definegoals, such as specifying a goal of the expected state of the fabric. Asfurther described below, rule engines 246 within SLAI 204, in turn,invoke task manger 312 to initiate one or more BLT tasks to achieve thespecified goal. In general, web service clients 313 may be presentationlayer applications, command line applications, or other clients.

BLT 206 abstracts all interaction with physical hardware for web serviceclients 313. BLT 206 is an enabling component for autonomic managementbehavior, but does not respond to real-time events that either prevent agoal from being achieved or produce a set of deviations between theexpected state and the actual state of the system. In contrast, BLT 206originates goals for autonomic reactions to changing configuration andstate. SLAI 204 analyzes and acts upon these goals along with real-timestate changes. BLT 206 sets the goals to which SLAI 204 strives toachieve, and provides functionality used by the SLAI in order to achievethe goals.

In general, BLT 206 does not dictate the steps taken in pursuit of agoal since these are likely to change based on the current state ofdistributed computing system 10 and changes to configurable policy. SLAI204 makes these decisions based on the configured rule sets for thefabric and by evaluating monitoring data received from monitoringsubsystem 202.

Fabric administration service 304 implements a set of methods formanaging all aspects of the fabric. Example methods include methods foradding, viewing, updating and removing domains, tiers, nodes,notifications, assets, applications, software images, connectors, andmonitors. Other example methods include controlling power at a node, andcloning, capturing, importing, exporting or upgrading software images.Rule engines 246 of SLAI 204 may, for example, invoke these methods byissuing action requests 212.

Task manager 312 receives action requests 212 via task interface 311. Ingeneral, task interface 311 provides an interface for receiving actionrequests 212 from SLAI 204 or other internal subsystem. In response,task manager 312 manages asynchronous and long running actions and areinvoked by SLAI 204 to satisfy a goal or perform an action requested bya client.

Task manager 312 generates task data 310 that represents identificationand status for each task. Task manager 312 returns a task identifier tothe calling web service clients 313 or the internal subsystem, e.g.,SLAI 204, that initiated the task. Rule engines 246 and web serviceclients 313 use the task identifiers to track progress and retrieveoutput, results, and errors associated with achieving the goal.

In one embodiment, there are no WSDL interfaces 300 for initiatingspecific tasks. Rather, administrator 20 interacts with BLT 206 thoughgoal interfaces presented by WSDL interfaces 300 to define the goals forthe fabric. In contrast, the term task is used to refer to internalsystem constructs that require no user interaction. Tasks are distinct,low-level units of work that affect the state of the fabric. SLAI 204may combine tasks to achieve or maintain a goal state.

For example, administrator 20 can request configuration changes byeither adding new goals to an object or by modifying the attributes onexisting goals. Scheduled goals apply a configuration at a designatedtime. For example, the goals for a particular tier may specify theminimum, maximum, and target node counts for that tier. As a result, thetier can increase or decrease current node capacity by scheduling goalswith different configuration values.

This may be useful, for example, in scheduling a software image upgrade.As another example, entire domains may transition online and offline pera defined grid schedule. Administrator 20 may mix and match goals on acomponent to achieve configurations specific to the application andenvironment. For example, a tier that does not support autonomic nodereplacement would not be configured with a harvesting goal.

In some embodiments, goals are either “in force” or “out of force.” SLAI204 only works to achieve and maintain those goals that are currently inforce. SLAI 204 may applies a concept of “gravity” as the goalstransition from in force to out of force. For example, SLAI 204 maytransition a tier offline when an online goal is marked out of force.Some goal types may have prerequisite goals. For example, an imageupgrade goal may require as a prerequisite that a tier be transitionedto offline before the image upgrade can be performed. In otherembodiments, goals are always in force until modified.

SLAI 204 may automatically formulate dependencies between goals or mayallow a user to specify the dependencies. For example, a user mayrequest that a newly created tier come online. As a result of this goal,SLAI 204 may automatically direct task manager 312 to generate a task ofharvesting a target number of nodes to enable the tier. Generally, allgoals remain in-force by SLAI 204 until modified by BLT 206. In oneembodiment, each goal remains in-force in one of three states:Satisfied, Warning, or Critical depending on how successful SLAI 204 wasin achieving the goal at the time the event record was generated andstored.

In this manner, SLAI 204 controls the life cycle of a goal (i.e., thecreation, scheduling, update, deletion of the goal), and provides acommon implementation of these and other services such as timeout, eventwriting, goal conflicts, management of intra-goal dependencies, andtracking tasks to achieving the goals.

Progress toward a goal is tracked though event subsystem 315. Inparticular, event subsystem 315 tracks the progress of each in forcegoal based on the goal identifiers. Tasks executed to achieve aparticular goal produce events to communicate result or errors. Theevents provide a convenient time-based view of all actions andbehaviors.

Examples of goal types that may be defined by administrator 20 includesoftware image management goals, node allocation goals, harvest goals,tier capacity goals, asset requirement goals, tier online/offline goals,and data gathering goals.

In one embodiment, BLT 206 presents a task interface to SLAI 204 for thecreation and management of specific tasks in order to achieve thecurrently in force goals. In particular, rule engines 246 invoke thetask interface based on evaluation of the defined rule sets in view ofthe expected state and actual state for the fabric. Example taskinterfaces include interfaces to: reserve node resources; queryresources for a node slot; associate or disassociate an image with anode in a tier node slot; allocate, de-allocate, startup or shutdown anode; move a node to a tier; apply, remove or cycle power of a node;create a golden image; create or delete an image instance; and delete anactivity, node or tier.

Report generator 302 provides an extensible mechanism for generatingreports 314. Typical reports include image utilization reports thatcontain information with respect to the number of nodes running eachsoftware image, inventory reports detailing both the logical andphysical aspects of the fabric, and system event reports showing allevents that have occurred within the fabric. Report generator 302gathers, localizes, formats and displays data into report form forpresentation to the user. Report generator 302 may include one or moredata gathering modules (not shown) that gather events in accordance witha schedule and update an events table to record the events. The datagathering modules may write the events in XML format.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a rule engine246 (FIG. 17). In the illustrated embodiment, rule engine 246 includes arule compiler 344 and an execution engine 346. Each of rules 342represents a unit of code that conforms to a rule language and expressesa set of triggering conditions and a set of implied actions. When theconditions are met, the actions are eligible to occur. The following isone example of a rule: rule checkTierLoad { Tier t where status !=“overloaded”; LoadParameter p where app == t.app && maxload < t.load; }−> { modify t { status: “overloaded”; }; }

When translated, this example rule marks a tier as overloaded if anapplication is implemented by the tier and the maximum specified loadfor the application has been exceeded. Another example rule foroutputting a notification that a tier is overloaded and automaticallyinvoking a task within BLT 206 to add a node is: rule tierOverloadNotify{ Tier t where status == “overloaded”; } −> { notify “Tier: ” + t + “isoverloaded.”; BLT.addNode (f); }

Rule compiler 344 compiles each of rules 344 and translates matchconditions of the rules into a discrimination network that avoidsredundant tests during rule execution. Execution engine 346 handles ruleadministration, object insertion and retrieval, rule invocation andexecution of rule actions. In general, execution engine 346 firstmatches a current set of rules 342 against a current state of workingmemory 348 and local objects 350. Execution engine 346 then collects allrules that match as well as the matched objects and selects a particularrule instantiation to fire. Next, execution engine 346 fires (executes)the instantiated rule and propagates any changes to working memory 348.Execution engine 346 repeats the process until no more matching ruleinstantiations can be found.

Firing of a rule typically produces a very small number of changes toworking memory 348. This allows sophisticated rule engines to scale byretaining match state between cycles. Only the rules and ruleinstantiations affected by changes get updated, thereby avoiding thebulk of the matching process. One exemplary algorithm that may be usedby execution engine 346 to handle the matching process includes the RETEalgorithm that creates a decision tree that combines the patterns in allthe rules and is intended to improve the speed of forward-chained rulesystem by limiting the effort required to re-compute a conflict setafter a rule is fired. One example of a RETE algorithm is described inForgy, C. L.: 1982, ‘RETE: a fast algorithm for the many pattern/manyobject pattern match problem’. Artificial Intelligence 19, 1737, herebyincorporated by reference. Other alternatives include the TREATalgorithms, and LEAPS algorithm, as described by Miranker, D. P.:‘TREAT: A New and Efficient Match Algorithm for AI Production Systems’.ISBN 0934613710 Daniel P. Miranker, David A. Brant, Bernie Lofaso, DavidGadbois: On the Performance of Lazy Matching in Production Systems. AAAI1990: 685692, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Various embodiments of the invention have been described. These andother embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

1. A distributed computing system comprising: a plurality of applicationnodes interconnected via a communications network; and a control nodethat includes an automation subsystem having one or more rule enginesthat provide autonomic control of the application nodes in accordancewith a set of one or more rules.
 2. The distributed computing system ofclaim 1, wherein the rule engines are forward-chaining rule engines. 3.The distributed computing system of claim 1, wherein the automationsubsystem includes a rule compiler that compiles the rules into one ormore discrimination networks.
 4. The distributed computing system ofclaim 1, wherein the control node further comprises: a monitoringsubsystem that collects status data from the application nodes andcommunicates the status data to the automation subsystem, wherein thestatus data represents an actual state for the application nodes; and abusiness logic tier that provides expected state data to the automationsubsystem, wherein the expected state data represents an expected statefor the application nodes, wherein the rule engines analyze the statusdata from the monitoring subsystem and apply the set of rules to produceaction requests to the business logic tier to control the applicationnodes to reduce any difference between the actual state and the expectedstate.
 5. The distributed computing system of claim 4, wherein themonitoring subsystem comprises a set of modular information collectorsthat collect the status data from the application nodes.
 6. Thedistributed computing system of claim 5, wherein each of the informationcollectors conforms to a different communication protocol.
 7. Thedistributed computing system of claim 5, wherein the application nodesare organized into tiers, and wherein each of the information collectorscollects the status data from the application nodes of different tiers.8. The distributed computing system of claim 5, wherein the automationunit registers collection requests with the monitoring subsystem, andthe monitoring subsystem includes a monitoring engine that invokes thecollectors in response to the collection requests.
 9. The distributedcomputing system of claim 4, wherein the automation unit furthercomprises a sensor subsystem that receives the state data from themonitoring subsystem and aggregates the state data in accordance with ahierarchical model of deployment of the application nodes.
 10. Thedistributed computing system of claim 4, wherein the sensor subsystemcommunicates the aggregated data to the rule engines in accordance witha schedule.
 11. The distributed computing system of claim 4, an effectorsubsystem that outputs action requests to the business logic tier inresponse to application of the rules by the rule engines.
 12. Thedistributed computing system of claim 4, wherein the business logic tierincludes a set of web services to control the application nodes.
 13. Thedistributed computing system of claim 4, wherein the business logic tierpresents interfaces by which a user defines one or more goals for theexpected state of the application nodes.
 14. The distributed computingsystem of claim 13, wherein the business logic tier registers the goalswith the automation unit for achievement by the rule engines inaccordance with the rule set.
 15. The distributed computing system ofclaim 13, wherein the automation unit automatically formulatesdependencies between the goals
 16. The distributed computing system ofclaim 13, wherein the business logic tier further comprises a taskmanager to invoke tasks in response to requests from the automationunit, and wherein the business logic tier includes an event subsystemthat tracks the progress of each of the tasks.
 17. The distributedcomputing system of claim 13, wherein the goals include at least one ofsoftware image management goals, node allocation goals, goals forharvesting nodes, tier capacity goals, asset requirement goals and goalsfor gathering the status data.
 18. The distributed computing system ofclaim 13, wherein the rules are units of code that conform with a rulelanguage.
 19. The distributed computing system of claim 4, furthercomprising: a database storing data that defines a model for ahierarchical organization of the distributed computing system, whereinthe model specifies a fabric having a one or more domains, and whereineach domain has at least one tier that includes at least one of theapplication nodes, wherein the rule engines automatically produce actionrequests to configure the application nodes in accordance with ahierarchical organization defined by the model.
 20. The distributedcomputing system of claim 19, wherein each tier represents a differentcomputing function.
 21. A method comprising: receiving input thatdefines an expected state for a distributed computing system having aplurality of application nodes interconnected via a communicationsnetwork; receiving status data that represents an actual state for thedistributed computing system; processing rules with a set of ruleengines to determine operations for reducing any difference between theactual state and the expected state; and applying the operations to thedistributed computing system to control the application nodes inaccordance with the rules.
 22. The method of claim 21, whereinprocessing rules comprises processing the rules with a plurality offorward-chaining rule engines that compile the rules into one or morediscrimination networks.
 23. The method of claim 21, further comprisingcollecting the status data from the application nodes with a pluralityof modular information collectors.
 24. The method of claim 21, furthercomprising: registering collection requests with a monitoring subsystem;and executing a monitoring engine that invokes the collectors inresponse to the collection requests.
 25. The method of claim 21, furthercomprising: aggregating the state data in accordance with a hierarchicalmodel of deployment of the application nodes; and processing theaggregated state data with the rule engines.
 26. The method of claim 21,further comprising: presenting an interface by which a user defines theexpected state as one or more goals; and registering the goals with therule engines.
 27. The method of claim 26, further comprising: storingdata that defines a model for a hierarchical organization of thedistributed computing system, wherein the model specifies a fabrichaving a one or more domains, and wherein each domain has at least onetier that includes at least one of the application nodes, automaticallyproducing the operations with the rule engines to configure theapplication nodes in accordance with a hierarchical organization definedby the model.
 28. A computer-readable medium comprising instructionsthat cause a programmable processor to: process rules with a set offorward-chaining rule engines to determine operations for reducingdifferences between an actual state of a distributed computing systemand an expected state; and apply the operations to the distributedcomputing system to provide autonomic control of the application nodesin accordance with the rules.